Grant Lee Buffalo

Grant Lee Buffalo released four albums in the 1990s, all on Splash Records

Fuzzy - 1993

When Grant Lee Buffalo cut their debut album, 1993's Fuzzy, they had a distinct advantage over most bands making their first trip to the studio -- They had already recorded two LPs together as members of the then-recently defunct Shiva Burlesque, and most of Fuzzy's 11 songs dated back to SB's latter days. This goes a long way towards explaining how Grant Lee Buffalo were able to make an album as confident and solidly crafted as Fuzzy, combining Phillips' evocative voice and songwriting, with sympathetic accompanists who had a clear idea of how to tap into the mysterious melodic structures of his music. Paul Kimble was an especially valuable ally in the studio, helping to produce and engineer these recordings and giving this album its full, widescreen sound. The album's simplicity and striking dynamics ultimately serve these songs well and songs like "Soft Wolf Tread," "Dixie Drug Store" and the title track fuse the richly American imagery of the burgeoning alt country movement with a California gothic sensibility that was all their own. Fuzzy's deep and mysterious quality was crafted with imagination and care, and it's no wonder Grant Lee Buffalo became critic's darlings shortly after this was released.

Mighty Joe Moon - 1994

You put your hands on a ouija board and you get a message from who knows where – that’s what music is like. You never know if you’re moving it, or you’re being moved by it,” explains guitarist/singer/ songwriter Grant Lee Phillips, one-third of L.A.’s Grant Lee Buffalo, on Mighty Joe Moon (Warner Bros.). The band continues to explore its distinctive blend of ethereal, somber folk and big, ungodly noise on their impressive follow-up to last year’s Fuzzy. Phillips and his bandmates, bassist Paul Kimble (also the produces and engineer) and drummer Joey Peters (who has drummed with John Lee Hooker), make use of everything – from pump organs to acquired hunks of metal – to enhance their stories of real America. On the album’s first single, the ballad “Mockingbird,” Phillips effectively blends a deep baritone with a high falsetto vocal over the songs’ trance-inducing groove. Distorted guitars, mixed with mandolins, banjos, blaring harmonicas are held steady by a very subtle yet strong rhythm section. Lyrically he blazes through politics, love, the human spirit, and ends the album with a very chilling take on his own version of the old hymn Rock of Ages.

Copperopolis - 1996

Copperopolis has a conceptual conceit that is rich enough to match GLPs plaintive emotion and songwriting craftsmanship. The album's title is a nod to a copper-mining town that has fallen on hard times. Songs such as "Arousing Thunder," "The Bridge" and "Armchair" evoke the dusk-like atmosphere of small-town America, creating cinematic imagery through a summer rainstorm, a barefoot walk across a wooden bridge and a beaten-up old easy chair. But these romantic visions are juxtaposed against the perverted ideals espoused by people who aren't quite as tolerant as Phillips and his bohemian band mates. In "Homespun," the singer rails against the militia movement: "Hear the drummers pound/Listen to the homespun violent sound." Phillips and the band broaden their palette to include vibraphone, violin and a cheesy synthesizer rescued from a thrift store to make Copperopolis a sometimes eccentric, but always rewarding place to visit.

Jubilee - 1998

GLB's producer and bassist, Paul Kimble, left the group after its third album, Copperopolis, came out in 1996, so Phillips and drummer Joey Peters drafted keyboardist Jon Brion and former Tonic bassist Dan Rothschild to fill out the lineup on Jubilee. Producer Paul Fox defines a clean, crisp sound for the band, alongside noteworthy guests like Michael Stipe, Robyn Hitchcock and the Wallflowers' Rami Jaffee . Songs like "Testimony," continue to evoke an utterly unique world composed of American lore, biblical references, literary flair and stirring emotional honesty. It's a singular course he's been charting steadily for four albums now.

The single, "Truly, Truly", received extensive airplay.^[1] on American radio

Jubilee met with more success than the prior releases thanks to "Truly, Truly." But, as Phillips describes, a number of changes led to the dissolution of the band's time at their label and their time together.

"The celebrational spirit of Jubilee actually brought a renewed optimism to me personally. The album was well received and understandably the expectations at the label were high, probably too high. Although the highly refined Jubilee had brought the band considerable success at radio with "Truly, Truly," a shift within the industry was well underway. The label's constant nagging about "Call-out Response" was both a new term and a bewildering concept to our ears. The basic strategy: a radio station arranges to call up a listener who is asked to consume about 30 songs over the phone, perhaps 20 seconds of each. From this remote encounter, the listener will then proceed to judge the material. Insufficient call-out response was a big reason that Jubilee hardly got a shot at Warners. Grant Lee Buffalo tunes are often like an old car or an old amp that needs a few seconds to get warmed up, but when it does... look out! Meanwhile, a new crop of young record buyers, the largest since the Baby Boomer era, were now being targeted to the exclusion of Gen-Xers, like myself, still waiting for the Pixies to reform.^[4]

In 2001, a compilation of singles, album tracks and rarities called Storm Hymnal was released.

Grant Lee Buffalo's sound is comparable to Neil Young and an electrified version of Americana songwriter John Stewart.^[1] Phillips writes that their first album "would galvanize the sound of Grant Lee Buffalo, i.e., the acoustic feedback howl of overdriven 12-string guitars, melodic distorto-bass, tribal drum bombast, the old world churn of pump organs and parlor pianos."^[5]

Lyrically, they reference American history as well as contemporary events.^[2] For instance, “Lone Star Song” from Mighty Joe Moon references the Waco siege and “Crackdown” from Copperopolis references the murder of Yoshihiro Hattori as well as the Oklahoma City bombing.

GLB toured with major bands including R.E.M., Pearl Jam, the Smashing Pumpkins, and The Cranberries. In the United States,

In May 2011 the band returned on a limited tour, making stops in Los Angeles, Dublin, London, Brussels, Copenhagen and Oslo.^[6] On August 8, 2011, the band performed at Dranouter festival in Belgium, and on August 9 in Copenhagen. The band also played at the German Haldern Pop Festival in August 2012.

In October 2017, Chrysalis Records acquired Grant Lee Buffalo's back catalog from Slash Records. Chrysalis/Blue Raincoat CEO Jeremy Lascelles had previously signed the band to the label's publisher in the 1990s.^[7]

Lead singer Phillips has had his own solo career as well. He explains:

As for Grant Lee Buffalo, I sensed they were beginning to wonder if we'd ever get through finishing school. Before that could happen, band and label parted as did Peters and myself. The scenery was changing and I was looking for new explorations. I'm sure we all were. Perhaps we always will be."^[4]

He was signed to the Boston-based indie label Rounder Records and launched a solo career, issuing Ladies' Love Oracle online in 2000. The recording was later more widely released. His first full-length album, Mobilize, was released in 2001. Phillips has released ten albums between 2000 and 2020.

• Buffalondon Live (1993)
• Blue Plate Special (1993)

(*) - Soundtrack demos only, not on the OST.

• If I Were a Carpenter

• Grant Lee Buffalo official webpage
• h2g2 article on Grant Lee Buffalo